Robot Worlf ‘Scarecrow’ Tested In Sapporo

Thanks to a Hokkaido company, farmers may soon be making use of mechanical wolves to keep their crops safe from wildlife.

Called the “Monster Wolf,” this interesting alternative to the classic scarecrow was created by the Hokkaido machine parts manufacturing company Ohta Seiki, in an effort to help farmers dealing with animals, such as bears and deer, that often visit their farms and damage crops.

The main body of the Monster Wolf is about 60 cm (24 in) long. It has infrared sensors, which when tripped activate the LED lights in its eyes and the speaker it has in its head, which is capable of playing approximately 40 different sounds. The robot wolf also has a timer, which can be set so that it goes off at set intervals.

The manufacturer of Monster Wolf began testing it at a Sapporo botanical garden called Kaiyuen, in December of last year. Although animals, such as deer, had been regularly damaging the park’s apple trees and other plants, since the Monster Wolf was set up these sorts of incidents have drecreased by 90%. Ohta Seiki plans to have the Monster Wolf on the market by June.

Regarding the success of Monster Wolf’s testing period the company president of Ohta Seiki was quoted as saying “It operated even at 20°C below zero. I want to help farmers whose crops are damaged by birds and wild animals.”

No word on how many people out for nighttime walks were horribly frightened by Monster Wolf.